Christmas Present Haul!

2017 has been special in many ways for me. I published my first book and started an author blog. Come to that, just the fact that I finally, finally got to come back to doing the blogging I so love has been really awesome. So you can guess that my Christmas wishlist had some pretty writer oriented gifts requested on it (some people have requested demanded we introduce wishlists for Christmas presents at least because they aren’t the sort to be happy with anything that is not in their mental wishlist already, and apparently my family is the sort that will negotiate with at least holiday terrorists and require that the rest of us follow along. Yeah, it’s not really my idea, I love the surprise of gifts I actually had no idea about, instead of just not knowing which option you already picked out they’ll give you, but oh well.)

I’ll skip the boring stuff- stocking stuffers are mainly chocolates, other candies, a clementine, and random practical bits like lip balm or socks, so we’ll definitely skip these gifts that are lovely to receive but boring to read a blog post about- and get right to the good gifts by category. I’ve had crafting, entertainment, and electronic gifts, so I’ve organized the list below that way. Have fun living vicariously through my spoils of war!

Christmas Gifts for the Hobbyist

Craft Gifts

Thread scissors are amazing for embroidery, hand sewing, AND machine sewing projects, which is great if you have any of those hobbies. Or, you know, if you just have low quality clothes in your closet that get a lot of loose threads you have to snip. These are great too if you are a hobby sewer because they look super pretty and come in a handy holster so they won’t get lost in the mess that seems to always pile up on crafting, sewing, and hobby tables- especially when they’re in use!

If you’ve ever had to get embroidery thread through the eye of a small needle, then you have been wanting this your whole life. Actually not kidding here, a needle threader is life changing if you ever do any hand sewing of any sort- even if you just sew on a button once in a blue moon this makes things so. much. easier!

Christmas Gifts for Those who Love Entertainment

Movie and Book Gifts

Yes, I have become the kind of person who collects blank notebooks. Thankfully I don’t just have empty books I’ve never filled and I’m actually steadily filling up my collection with sketches and freewrites and poetry, but I still have several empty notebooks waiting to be used. I added this notebook to my wishlist anyway and I’m so glad I got it- it has dragon and is pretty, and the paper can be used for art or writing. What’s not to love?

I know, this isn’t exactly a new release. But I haven’t seen the movie since the one time I saw it in theaters and LOVED it. It was super cute, and the story was interesting, and the animation was satisfying. I was all around a fan of the movie and glad to have received it.

It turns out the story of my favorite tv series, Avatar the Last Airbender, actually continues after the last episode in a series of comics. I know, I must have lived under a rock to not know this already, I’m ashamed at how behind the times I am too. Anyway, I found this out and have bought a few one buck comics at the local comic store, but I don’t go past the store very often and I don’t ever want to ask the shopkeeper for help finding a particular comic because somehow that is stressful to me, so I figured instead it would be best for me to collect the multi comic collections wrapped up as three volumes. I received the first of these as my Christmas present a few days ago, and I’m looking forward to gathering the rest!

Electronics Gifts

So, why would an author need a hardrive that can store four whole terabytes of information? Honestly, I actually write enough that this insane amount of digital storage is really useful for me. Plus I take photos for blogging and such, so that’s handy. PLUS, and this is really important, I’m still working on figuring out video editing so I can eventually start up a Youtube channel. I’m not going to commit to an official release date to a channel because you know and I know that whatever date I write down I will be extreme waaaay past deadline on it, so I don’t want to disappoint you by promising it will happen by a particular day in the first place. Suffice to say it will happen, and having something that can store all that will be super useful.

I just know for certain in my gut that this will change my life as a writer. Think about it- I could be painting my nails while I am dictating a book. I could dictate a manuscript in half the time of writing it all out, with less typos than my own writing. (Yes, I know even Dragon makes typos, but I am sure I make even more- my editor is a patient soul who deserves the highest praises for fixing all my technical mistakes.)

Yes, I did receive a wireless mouse. The story of the mouse is that our house has just one working mouse, and five people who borrow it. So, obviously, no one can get the mouse when they want it. This means that I do hours of writing and editing work on the stupid tiny trackpad attached to my laptop. I guess someone was just tired of going without a mouse themselves and decided to give everyone their own to end the great mouse war, but I am just glad that I can now do computer work a little more comfortably!

Christmas Gifts for Makeup Lovers

I got just a few beauty gifts this year, but they were very good and very worth planting the idea in your ear so you have it in mind when the next friend’s birthday rolls by. For this one I’ll also throw in my favorite stocking stuffer gift I received!

So, what gift do you give to the person obsessed with nail polish? Well, every nail polish lover must have at least one bottle of holographic polish. Holo polish reflects rainbows, and this bad boy managed to put on a solid holographic finish in just two coats, which is a total win for any glitter type nail polish really. It is not super cheap, but it works and it is free of the top most common toxic chemicals found in most drug store nail polish brands, so I’d say it’s worth it except I didn’t actually buy mine so I really have no right to say that realistically. I still will though because, holo.

This is a solid shampoo, which is weird. It also claims to be worth the same amount of shampoo as a full 24 oz bottle, which is crazy. But it smells good, lathers well, hasn’t stripped or greased my hair like some of the Lush solid shampoos have, so I’m psyched by this discovery.

Christmas Gifts for The Sporty

Or Gifts For People who Workout Just to Stay Healthy

Running socks make all the difference between an okay run and a great run (does a great run even exist though? Sometimes it almost feels like I’m actually having fun while running, so maybe. I still hate the getting out the door to just get going and feeling tired and gross afterwards though so I’m not a complete run loving monster.) These running socks are purple, high enough so the back of the shoe doesn’t dig into my ankle like most shorty socks leave me exposed to, and it’s made of natural wool so it doesn’t hold onto that obnoxious funk sweat wicking polyester fabrics have a problem with.

Yes, I did in fact ask for water inflattible dumbells. They are life changing if you love weight training but travel a few times a year because hotel gyms tend to have cardio equipment and nothing else. These are great for on the go workouts and they work well in my house filled with worryworts who’d be stressed by heavy weights living in the house all the time. They are the top reviewed water filled travel weights on Amazon as well so that sold me on this particular pair, and apparently it sold my family member enough to choose this as one of my presents!

Present for The Haul

So there you have it! These are all the gifts I got for Christmas this year. I’m really glad for all of them. It’s a little sad that I don’t get completely surprised by my gifts like I used to- because everything changed once the gift list became mandatory in my family- but there’s still some benefit I guess in knowing you won’t get a single present you want to return. Unless, of course, they are super expensive leather ankle slippers that claim to fit size Women’s 10-11 but can not even be squeezed onto my size 8 feet. Those will be returned, so they don’t count for this list because they failed me. Every other under tree gift I got is listed here and they were all awesome.